


Missing Loops

by Mariavcwrites



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, great, more time loops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:08:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25479700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariavcwrites/pseuds/Mariavcwrites
Summary: She has died 14 times, they had done it 87 times.... or at least 87 times that Coulson knows of... or remembers. What about before that?
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 14
Kudos: 127





	Missing Loops

The lights flicker. She opens her eyes.

It’s back to the pod.

“Damn it”

She presses the button like a reflex. She propels herself on her elbows and sure… he’s there.

Daisy gets out of the pod and her boots touch the ground loud enough for Daniel to wake up.

He takes a moment to get his thoughts in order “Hey. What are you doing up?”

“You do realize that the world resets but I remember, right?”

No frowns “What?”

“I don’t need this… not again” She says and storm out of the room.

He gets up, taking a second to get used to his new leg and how it moves so smoothly “Daisy, wait. Were you having a nightmare? Are you ok?”

He follows her as Daisy heads to the LMD lab.

She comes to a sudden stop.

“I’m fine. Would you go check on Mack? He’s… going to need you”

“Mack? Yeah. Sure. But… promise me you’ll take it easy” He wait for Daisy to nod before he goes, which makes Daisy sigh as she turns on her heel. She needs to talk about this.

Pressing the button quickly turns Coulson back on.

“I take it didn’t work”

Daisy puts her hands on her hips “Nope. Sousa took my place and died”

“Oh thank god”

Daisy frowns.

“That time you died, you didn’t remember…”

“Right… something else happened, though”

Coulson tilts his head a bit. He has a suspicious hint of a smile, but lets Daisy speak.

“Sousa kissed me” Daisy says, avoiding Coulson’s eyes. “He took the detonator, kissed me, and blew himself up!”

“Hmm… romantic”

Daisy gives him a pointed look. “It didn’t work”

“The bomb, or the kiss?”

“Alright. I might need to tell you another thing” She pauses “I… may or may not have kissed him like three loops ago”

“Oh. That’s new”

“What? What do you mean?”

“You died… forgot everything?”

Daisy opens her eyes wide “Oh… did this- did this already happen?”

“I mean, once that I know of” He teases, and daisy grumbles.

“It’s not- I don’t know if I am… ready. I literally had to watch him die three seconds after I kissed him. That’s a new record”

“He’s not really dead”

“Yeah… for now. It was so weird. I mean when I did it, it felt kinda nice but it was dumb, and he wasn’t supposed to remember. Then he did it-”

“Daisy. It’s ok”

“Which means he also-“

“Woah… also what?”

Daisy shakes her head “I can’t deal with this right now”

“Sure. Couldn’t agree more. But we’re leaving this loop at some point, and you have to keep living your life. Wanting to move on, it’s not a bad thing”

She opens her mouth but she doesn’t have an answer for that.

“I like him” Coulson adds.

“I don’t have time to worry about that. We have a mission” She decides to change the subject “We need to try something new. Any thoughts?”

“Uhm… what about just ejecting the jump drive out of the zephyr. We haven’t tried that one”

“Can we even open a door?”

“Worst case scenario. You get another kiss”

“Ha ha”

Daisy marches back to the control room, where the team is already in crisis mode as Mack just got burned by radiation.

“Deke… how far are we?”

“What? How do you-“ Deke shakes his head “About 303 kilometers”

“We need to take Mack to Simmons right now” May barks. She looks at Sousa and Deke and they get to work.

“No, no” Daisy says and everybody looks at her “I mean yes, but I need help to do something. It’s gonna sound very weird and I don’t have time to explain”

Daniel is already taking a step with a decided look on his face “What is happening?”

But the familiar flash of light returns.

“Oh shit”

* * *

The lights flicker. She opens her eyes.

It’s back to the pod.

“DAMN IT!!!” She yells from inside the pod, which is what wakes up Sousa this time.

Before she has time to do anything, he’s already by her side.

“Daisy! Are you ok?”

She takes a breath “I am…” she presses the button to open the pod “Sorry… that was weird”

“Why are you up?”

“Because the whole team is about to die and I have to save them”

He frowns “Were you having a nightmare?”

“I am, actually. But not because I was asleep” She gets out of the pod. “I need to eject the jump drive out of the zephyr. You up for it?”

“Oh… what… why?”

“Like I said. Life or death. I know you’re going to think I’m crazy”

He shakes his head “Why would that be harder to believe than anything I have seen in the last few days?” He scoffs “Lead the way, Agent Johnson” He gestures towards the door to let her leave first.

Daisy runs towards the drive and Sousa follows, with the team just noticing them but still too busy dealing with another ton of emergencies.

There, Daisy realizes that she doesn’t have a plan.

“So what do we do?”

“I probably should have woken Coulson up. We need power tools” Daisy says and then runs in the opposite direction.

And Daniel is still following as they hear Mack screaming from pain.

He only stops then “Wait… Mack!”

“I know. Just trust me. This is more important”

Now he looks troubled, and he takes a second to decide with a last look to the scene; but at the end he turns back to Daisy with a nod.

They go to the LMD lab, and Daisy presses the button once again.

When Coulson opens his eyes, he smiles at them “So you brought him here”

“Shut up” She says “We need to open a hole and get some equipment to roll the drive out. We have to be careful. The explosives were a terrible plan”

“I don’t think we can make it in this one” Coulson says as they walk out and head to storage.

Daniel stops “Can any of you explain what is actually happening?”

“A classic time loop scenario” Coulson says.

“Only Coulson and I remember everything”

“Huh… that explains... none of it”

“So. Next one” Coulson speaks again “You run for the power tools and grab Deke. Daisy wakes me up and we meet at the drive. Not that you’ll remember any of that”

“Ok. But what do we do now?”

“I guess we wait” Daisy says, standing next to Daniel, and his expression softens as he looks at her.

“You two are adorable”

“Wait what?”

* * *

The lights flicker. She opens her eyes.

It’s back to the pod.

This time she doesn’t feel so grumpy, although she is wondering if maybe Coulson will forget if he dies in a loop.

She carefully comes out of the pod, to find Daniel sleeping in the same position as always, in a very uncomfortable metal chair.

“Hey. Wake up” She pokes his arm.

It takes him a second “Hey. What are you doing up?”

She thinks that she has the answer, but… she doesn’t want to do that right now.

So she leans against the pod instead “So you just sleep here?”

“I mean. You’re not the best at keeping still. Doesn’t hurt to have someone checking on you”

Daisy wants to be mad at that “I’m not a little girl, you know?”

“Oh, I know that” He crosses his arms “You just can’t help but jump into action as soon as anything happens, which around here seems to be quite often”

She chuckles “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course”

“You said… that you wanted to say some goodbyes, the other day. Did you- like… Have someone… you wanted to say goodbye to? In specific?”

That catches him a bit by surprise “Yeah… friends. Colleagues. My neighbor… I used to help him walk upstairs and bring his paper-“

“Of course you did” She smiles.

“What do you really want to know?” He narrows his eyes at her.

“You were ready to stay in the 50’s. I thought that maybe it was about someone special for you”

“I’m glad I didn’t stay. There was nothing for me in the 50’s” He looks down “Or in the 40’s to be honest”

“And is there something for you here?”

He searches for her eyes again “It’s going to sound weird, because I should be completely out of place. But it feels right. I’m were I needed to be”

“Sleeping on an uncomfortable chair?” She teases.

That makes him smile, which for a second makes her forget about the chaos around her. It’s just… warm.

“By someone’s side. Someone that just maybe can use a little back up” He stands up “I know that you rather head head-first into the lion’s den before letting anyone get hurt, but you don’t have to”

“You’re gonna say I have my team. Because the things that I do-“

“You also have me” He shrugs “Everybody needs a little back up. Even if they are strong and incredibly brave and… pretty much invincible”

She looks down “I’m not all that”

He leans against the pod next to her and nudges her softly with his arm “You just don’t see it”

After Daisy doesn’t respond he speaks again “So. What about your life? In the future. Anyone in there”

“I don’t have neighbors” She says and then turns her head to look at him “Unless you count Deke, but he can walk the stairs just fine” they both smile “There was someone…once”

This time she barely notices the flashes and the alarms going off.

* * *

The lights flicker. She opens her eyes.

It’s back to the pod.

And she just stays there.

Part of her feels bad that they are wasting time like this, but it’s not like they are making any progress and this feels… nice.

It feels like she is where she needs to be.

She gets out and wakes him up again.

This time she brings a chair.

“Hey. Why are you up?”

“There was someone once” She starts… taking him by surprise, but he lets her speak “His name was Lincoln, and long story short. He died because of me, because he thought that somehow my life was worth more than his”

“I’m sorry”

“And then you have my mom” She sobs “And now she’s back, but she died because she tried to kill me. My father had to do it”

“Daisy-“

“Coulson is dead because the one chance we had to save him… he gave it ti me so we could win a fight…”

“Hey” He insists, leaning forward and grabbing her arm. “It’s ok. You can tell me”

“It’s just that. I get that everybody needs people in their lives, but I wish I didn’t. I just wish I could keep them safe because I just can’t watch any more people die on me”

“I’m willing to bet that you have saved so many-“

“That doesn’t matter!”

“Daisy, it does. Because contrary to what you might believe, you are… incredible. I can’t just tell the kind of person that you are”

She swallows “And what is that?”

“A hero” He gives her a small smile “But any hero needs someone to pick them back up sometimes”

Almost without realizing it, her fingers are already interlaced with his. “Someone like you?”

“It feels right”

“I hate this” She says after a beat and he looks confused “I hate that you will forget”

“I’m going to forget what?”

“We have talked. We have tried to save the team-“

“That’s what all the flickering is about?”

She ignores that “-We have… died” she sighs “I don’t hate that you have tried to pick me up every time. But I hate that you won’t remember when the loop ends”

“Loop?” He processes for a moment, without letting go of her hand “Have we done this before?”

“Like 30 times”

“Woah. And you say we have died?”

“I mean if I die I don’t remember, but If you do I do” she squeezes his hand “Also hate that”

“Huh” The alarms and explosions can be heard in the room as the ships shakes a little “Is it about to reset again?”

“You asked that question before, you know?”

“And what did I do after I asked it?”

This time it’s Daisy leaning forward in her chair, enough to kiss him, but she also reaches for his shirt with her free hand to pull him closer. The touch is delicate, but it’s just as great.

She wonders if she has done this more times than she actually remembers, because it feels so familiar and comforting. Daisy has no doubts at this point that he feels something, because he’s moving his hand to her waist to get closer, but he never takes it further until she takes another step. So she opens her mouth and moves her hands to the back of his neck. They are both running out of breath but it’s like they don’t care. Daniel deepens the kiss when she allows him to, and she can also tell that he’s smiling.

It’s hard to accept that things can be different now, especially because they are in the middle of another life of death situation.

But she can have this moment, before he forgets.

Before she dies again and she forgets.

She wonders if anything stays with them, even in some subconscious level, because each kiss feels easier, like they have always been this close.

Like things will be better this time.

Daisy doesn’t let him go until the ship shakes as it prepares to jump.

* * *

The lights flicker. She opens her eyes.

It’s back to the pod.

And she has a smile and her own fingers trace her lips.

Daisy gets out of the pod quietly and then pokes him again “Time to wake up snowhite. We got work to do”

He gets up, still trying to get used to walking with his new leg “What are you doing up? What’s going on?”

“Time loop. Team about to die. I need you on my corner”

“Woah. So this has happened before?”

“Not like this. But yeah. Can you go get the power tools and meet me at the drive? Bring Deke with you”

“Yeah. Absolutely” He gives her a nod and walks on the opposite direction as Daisy goes to the LMD lab.

She presses the button and Coulson opens his eyes.

“That felt weird. Please tell me you didn’t die”

She shakes her head “I didn’t, but I took a couple of loops off”

“Oh. You took a couple of loops off. That’s nice”

“I need to figure some stuff out. But don’t worry. We got this”

“Great. Told your boyfriend to meet us?”

“Don't” They walk into the command center just as the radiation is about to hit Mack “Close the cockpit now!” Daisy yells and May presses the button just in time “Great job, guys”

They continue as the team just stares at them.

Deke and Daniel are ready and next to the drive.

“Should we just cut the floor?” Coulson asks.

“What?” Deke asks.

“We’re stuck in a time loop, only Daisy and I remember everything, but don’t worry. We’re trying. Now cut a hole”

“But we don’t know what’s gonna happen… what’s out there isn’t even… space. It’s… nothing. Nothingness” Deke continues, alarmed.

Daniel is kneeling next to the drive and examining the tools “It doesn’t matter. If it fails, time will reset and we can try something else”

Deke finally joins him “How is that the old-timey guy is taking everything so chill?”

“It’s just another mission, son. We can get out of this”

“I’m not your son” Deke mumbles as he starts cutting with a laser tool.

As they cut the hole, the ships starts shaking, and so does the drive. It gets very loud as they hear metal crumpling and it starts to feel like things are happening… slowly?

Deke finishes, and the drive drops out of the ship, leaving a hole in its place.

For a moment, everything stops.

No flickering, no alarms no… nothing.

Daisy tries to speak but she can’t hear her own voice. They see as the hole in the ship starts expanding, almost as if the metal is just disappearing, and soon, cracks of light start tearing through the Zephyr.

As Daisy blinks, people seem to be in different places, just as all the loops start merging in her head and she…

She remembers.

She remembers more deaths, more things they have tried, more… kisses.

And then Daniel is looking at her. He can barely move but he knows.

He remembers everything and Daisy can tell, because they are practically frozen, and the tools are floating around him, but he's trying so hard to move... to do anything.

Realization washes over the whole team as they remember living through all of this agin and again, but Daisy is focused on Daniel.

She keeps staring at him as he tries to smile… to get up and get to her.

Then the whole ship collapses in a silent ball of light.

* * *

The lights flicker. She opens her eyes.

She’s just woken up in the pod, and the zephyr is shaking slightly.

Coming out, her feet stomp on the floor loud enough to wake Sousa who’s been there this whole time apparently?

“Hey. What are you doing up?”

“How long have you been here?”

“Well I guess- When did you go to sleep? Since then”

**Author's Note:**

> Ok... might be trash but I just wanted to write something, and also try to include something different from what we saw on the show. I hope you enjoy it and keep riding this dousy wave with me. It's so GREAT hahahaha
> 
> I had the idea to write a couple extra loops because as history tended to repeat itself in the episode, I guess they were gonna end upo having a heart to heart more than once, and I also believe that some of those feelings would stay in some way.... so here's my take!
> 
> Please let me know your thoughts :D


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